This invention relates generally to entryway systems for homes and commercial buildings and more specifically to entryways incorporating continuous threshold assemblies and leak resistance.
Entryway systems used in building construction generally include a pair of vertically extending door jambs and a head jamb that frame the entryway and receive a hinged door. An elongated threshold assembly is attached at its ends to the bottoms of the door jambs and spans the bottom of the entryway. Many modern threshold assemblies include an extruded aluminum frame having an upwardly open channel from which a sill slopes outwardly and downwardly. A threshold cap, which may be made of plastic or wood, is disposed in the upwardly open channel and underlies a closed door mounted of the entryway. The threshold cap usually is vertically adjustable to engage and form a seal with a flexible sweep attached to the bottom of the door.
Some entryways include sidelights that flank the door on one or both sides thereof. In such sidelight entryways, mullions or mull posts extend vertically from the top of the threshold assembly to the head jamb to define the door opening and sidelight openings. Many variations of this basic theme such as, for example, patio door entryways, inswing entryways, and outswing entryways, are available to accommodate an equal number of variations of entryway designs.
Traditionally, the bottoms of door jambs, which usually are made of wood, are attached to the ends of the threshold assembly by milling a specially shaped jamb haunch in the bottoms of the jambs and fitting and stapling the bottoms of the jambs to the threshold assembly. A portion of the haunch overlaps and sits atop the sloped sill of the threshold assembly. The problems with this traditional technique are many. For instance, since virtually every brand and style of threshold assembly has a different shape, the jamb haunches in each case must be precisely and specially milled to fit the particular threshold assembly to which they are to be attached. This means that pre-hangers must own and operate expensive and accurate milling machinery and must maintain a number of different shaped milling cutters to accommodate the various configurations of threshold assemblies. This is also true for the bottoms of mull posts, which must be provided with a haunch specially shaped to rest atop the jamb of the threshold assembly. Another problem is that, since the end grain of the jambs and mull posts rests directly on the sill deck, moisture from rain water and the like eventually leaks beneath the haunch and wicks into the wood of the jambs and mull posts causing rot and decay. Finally, water that may seep under the threshold cap of the assembly and into the upwardly open channel that holds it tends to migrate to and puddle at the ends of the channel, where it soaks into the wood of the jambs also causing eventual rot and deterioration.
Another leakage problem that commonly occurs with traditional and modern entryway systems involves the leaking of water into a building structure at the bottom corners of a closed door. Entryways are especially susceptible to such leakage in a blowing rainstorm where water may collect on the sill of a threshold and be forced between the door, threshold, and jamb under the influence of air or wind pressure created by the wind. Manufacturers of entryway systems have attempted to address leakage at this location in a number of ways. One solution sometimes found in modern entryways is a flexible corner pad on the bottom of the jamb where the jamb meets the threshold cap. The theory is that the corner pad will fill the space between the door and the jamb, thus sealing against leakage of water at this location. FIG. 6 attached hereto illustrates a section of a modern entryway system provided with such a corner pad and further illustrates the reason why such corner pads have not met with complete success.
FIGS. 6 and 6a illustrate the portion of an entryway system where the threshold assembly 70 of the entryway meets the vertical jamb 71 thereof. The threshold 70 has a sloped sill 72 and a threshold cap 73. The bottom of the jamb 71 is milled to form an appropriate haunch to fit the profile of the threshold 70 and is attached thereto with appropriate fasteners (not shown). As best illustrated in FIG. 6a, the vertical jamb 71 is milled to form a vertically extending stop 78 against which the door 79 of the entryway closes when shut. The stop 78 further is formed with a kurf 77. A length of flexible weather strip 74 is mounted to the stop 78 by means of a locking tongue assembly 76 that extends into the kurf 77. With this configuration, the weather strip 74 is collapsed and compressed between the door 79 and the stop 78 around the periphery of the door when the door is shut. The bottom end of the weather strip in traditional entryway systems extends below the bottom edge of the door and rests on the sloped sill of the threshold as best illustrated in FIG. 6.
As mentioned above, entryway manufacturers for some time have attempted to prevent leakage at the bottom corner of a door by installing flexible corner pads, illustrated at 75 in FIG. 6. Such corner pads may have lobes that extend behind the weather strip 74 to reinforce the weather strip and, it is thought, form a tighter seal between the weather strip and the door at the bottom of the entryway. However, it has been discovered that leakage still occurs at this location, particularly under conditions of blowing rainstorms. Under such conditions, rain water 81 tends to collect on the sill 72 and puddle at the corners of the entryway. In addition, the wind in a blowing rainstorm generates wind pressure (illustrated with arrows in FIG. 6) that is greater than the pressure within the dwelling on the other side of the door and that rises in proportion to the strength of the blowing wind.
As shown in FIG. 6, it has been discovered that, under such conditions, leakage still occurs at the bottom corners of the door regardless of the integrity of the seal created between the weather strip and the door and between the door and the corner pad. Observation and experimentation has demonstrated that such leakage occurs as a result of weather strip wicking and not as a result of a poor seal between the weather strip and the door or the corner pad and the door. Specifically, when the door is shut against the weather strip, the weather strip folds to create its seal and this folding also forms a capillary channel 100 (FIG. 6a), similar to a straw, that extends along the length of the weather strip. High external wind pressure generated by blowing wind pushes water 81 up into the capillary channel in the weather strip as shown in FIG. 6. As the external air pressure increases relative to the internal pressure within the building, the water is forced higher into the capillary channel formed by the folded weather strip, eventually rising over the top of the corner pad and leaking into the building. Thus, it is now clear that corner pads have been at least partially a misguided attempt to address the problem of leakage at the lower corners of a closed door.
Thus, a need exists for an improved entryway system that addresses and solves the above-referenced problems and shortcomings of the prior art. Such an entryway system should eliminate the need for specially milled jamb and mull post haunches to fit these elements to the threshold assembly, should eliminate the rotting and deterioration that typically occurs at the bottoms of jambs and mull posts where they meet the threshold assembly, and should provide for the efficient draining off of water that may seep beneath the threshold cap of the threshold assembly. A further need exists for an entryway system that effectively and reliably stops water leakage at the bottom corners of a closed door of the entryway. It is to the provision of such an entryway system that the present invention is primarily directed.
Briefly described, the present invention, in one preferred embodiment thereof, comprises an improved entryway system that eliminates the aformentioned problems with traditional prior art entryways. The entryway system comprises an elongated threshold assembly that preferably is made of extruded aluminum formed with a downwardly and outwardly sloping sill and an upwardly open channel. A vertically adjustable threshold cap is disposed in the channel for underlying a closed door of the entryway. A jamb boot is attached to each end of the threshold assembly for receiving and mating with the bottom of a respective one of the door jambs of the entryway. Each jamb boot preferably, but not necessarily, is made of injection molded plastic and is preformed with a haunch that is configured precisely to fit the particular threshold assembly to which it is attached. Each jamb boot is shaped with the same vertical profile as its corresponding door jamb and has an upper surface that is flat and level. The jamb boots are pre-attached and sealed to the ends of the threshold assembly by the threshold assembly manufacturer. At the pre-hanger""s facilities, jambs are prepared for attachment to the threshold assembly simply by square cutting the bottoms of the jambs, mating the jamb bottoms to the flat level top surface of their corresponding jamb boots, and attaching the jambs to their boots with screws extending through the bottom of the jamb boots and into the jambs.
Each of the jamb boots is further formed in one embodiment with an internal drain channel that receives collected water from the upwardly open channel of the sill and directs the water to the outside face of the jamb boot. Thus, water that may seep beneath the threshold cap is harmlessly drained away and does not collect beneath the threshold cap.
The invention also includes injection molded plastic or composite mull post boots for use with sidelight entryways. The mull post boots also are pre-formed with a haunch that precisely matches and sits atop the sill and each has a level top surface. Mull posts are attached to the threshold assembly by square cutting their bottoms, mating the bottoms of the mull posts with the flat level tops of the mull post boots, and attaching the mull posts with screws extending through the mull post boots from below. A traditional head jamb or header is attached to the tops of the jambs and mull posts in the traditional way and a door is hung in the resulting frame in the traditional way to complete the pre-hanging process.
The invention further includes means for positively arresting the leakage of rainwater into a building at the lower corners of a closed door. This is accomplished by providing a weather strip along each jamb that has a bottom end adjacent the threshold that is raised above the level of the sill to prevent weather strip wicking and consequent leakage. In one embodiment for use with traditional milled jambs, a positioning insert is provided in the bottom of the kurf of the jamb into which the locking tongue of the weather strip extends and is fixed. The positioning insert limits the position of the bottom end of the weather strip to a location above the sill so that water collected on the sill does not contact the bottom of the weather strip and thus cannot be blown by air pressure up the capillary channel formed therein. In another embodiment for use with the jamb boots of the present invention, the jamb boot is formed without a continuation of the jamb kurf, thus forming a stop. The stop, like the positioning insert, limits the position of the bottom of the weather strip to a location above the sill to prevent wicking in conditions of blowing rain. It has been found that raising the bottom of the weather strip above the sill away from puddling water substantially eliminates leakage of water at the lower corners of a closed door even under conditions of blowing rains and high winds.
Thus, a unique entryway system is now provided that eliminates the requirement to mill the bottoms of door jambs and mull posts with specially configured haunches to match the particular threshold assembly being used in the entryway. Since the jamb and mull post boots of the invention are formed of plastic, water that may collect or seep beneath their haunches never reaches the wood of the jambs and mull posts. Accordingly, rotting and deterioration common with traditional entryway systems is eliminated. The draining feature of the jamb boots ensures that water does not collect in the channel beneath the threshold cap of the threshold assembly. Finally, raising the bottom end of the weather strip above the sill deck effectively stops leakage of water at the bottom corners of a closed door caused by weather strip wicking. These and other features, objects, and advantages of the entryway system of this invention will become more apparent upon review of the detailed description set for below when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are briefly described as follows.